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'Using the nuanced and poetic language available to her, Chopin framed a part of female experience that had never before been acknowledged. The effect was explosive . . . Introducing this release of The Awakening has given me an opportunity to re-experience one of my life's important books . . . I still marvel at Chopin's realism, her impatience with conventional trappings, her arresting honesty' INTRODUCED BY BARBARA KINGSOLVER'Incisive, brilliant and haunting' MAGGIE O'FARRELLOver one long, languid summer Edna Pontellier, fettered by marriage and motherhood, becomes acquainted with Robert Lebrun. As the days shorten and the temperature begins to drop Edna succumbs to Robert's devotion. But in the thrall of this ever-strengthening desire Edna begins to realise the true extent of her psychological, social and sexual confinement and its devastating consequences for her future. The Awakening is widely regarded as one of the forerunners of feminist literature alongside Tolstoy's Anna Karenina and Flaubert's Madame Bovary. First published in the United States in 1899, this radical novel sent shockwaves through American society and continues to speak to readers one hundred years later. This tender, brilliant, and seductive novel is as beautifully written as it is politically engaging.

Product Identifiers

PublisherCanongate Books

ISBN-101782114297

ISBN-139781782114291

eBay Product ID (ePID)202500649

Product Key Features

Publication Year2014

Number of Pages320 Pages

LanguageEnglish

AuthorKate Chopin, Barbara Kingsolver

FormatPaperback

Dimensions

Item Height0.9 in

Item Weight5.9 Oz

Item Length7 in

Item Width4.5 in

Additional Product Features

ReviewsThe Awakening is not only one of the most important novels in the history of American women's writing, it is an acknowledged American masterpiece. Edna Pontellier is an American Emma Bovary, deeply dissatisfied by the restricted possibilities available to a middle-class white woman in the 1890s. Rejecting her society's sexual norms and seeking a more fulfilling life, she is eventually destroyed by the limitations she cannot overcome, but along the way Chopin offers a compelling portrait of female experience, one of the first of its kind. Recognized as being as important a literary protest against the treatment of women as Charlotte Perkins Gilman's 'The Yellow Wallpaper,' The Awakening is taught at universities and schools across the US, and is overdue for equal recognition outside of its native shores. It is great news that Canongate is bringing The Awakening to the British reading public at last, Incisive, Brilliant and Haunting, "Amazing Novel." --Christian Feminism Today

Dewey Edition22

Publication Date2014-11-01

Dewey Decimal813.4